Dedicate audio for music lovers
Introduction
I have a dedicated music room for my music listening. After a day of work, I will relax myself with music and a can of beer. My favorite music are Classical, New age and Jazz. My passion for music started when I was very young and I believe a good audio system will bring out the very best of my music collections. From top to bottom here are my audio gadgets...
Adcom GFA-5500 Power Amplifier*
This is an exclusively designed mosfet power amp. The line-in consist a discrete a low noise differential pairs N-channel IRFD210 followed by P-channel IRFD9120 voltage driver. A high current driver stage, N-channel IRF610 and P-channel IRF9610 drive 5 matched pair of N-channel IRFP240 and P-channel IRFP9240, total 10 power mosfets per channel to give 200W RMS into 8ohms and 350W RMS into 4ohms. A large toridal power transformer with separate windings for both channels coupled with large 4x 18,000uf 150V electrolytic caps for output stage. A separate supply with 8x 1000uf 150v for the input and driver stage. Ground connection is via bus bar to carry the high current to the speaker connectors. Built in instantaneous distortion alert LEDs and a Thermal shutdown if the heatsink reached to high temperature. The power amp is protected by +/-VE rail fuses and there is no output speakers relay to degrade the sound. The characteristics of a amp; ample controlled bass, clean sounding and extended highs.
GFA-5500 runs pretty warm to touch!
one of the power module removed showing 10 power mosfets mounted on large heatsink
*GFA-5500 is a stereo power amp and it is setup up with one channel disabled.
Please visit Adcom
Adcom GFP-555mk2 Preamplifier
This pre-amplifer uses dual OPA627* in the input stage while the phono and tone circuits use OPA2604*. It has two pre out; one is direct coupled with no output cap, the bypass mode. This ensures subsonic bass is reproduced. This is considered many, a well balanced and musical preamp by Adcom to date.
*NE5532 is replaced by Burr-Brown OPA627 and OPA2604
Yamaha CDS-2000 SACD player
This is Yamaha flagship model, it delivers music with passion; very open sound, mid is warmer and the top is extended with some 'sweetness'. It uses top notch PCM1794 multi-sigma DAC from Burr-Brown in dual double differential mode. I-V conversion is done by OPA2604 while output buffer is OPA2134. A die-cast silent loading SACD/CD mechanism. Overall a sturdy construction weighed 16kg.
With cover out, showing the internal structures of Yamaha CDS-2000.
The D/A conversion board, 2x PCM1794 is dual double differential mode to generate precise balance output
Please visit Yamaha
Cambridge Azur 640T V2 DAB/FM Tuner
I like the sound of DAB; free from static noise. The sound quality is better than typical budget FM tuner. Classical 92.4 with bit rate up to 192kbps shows its strength in details and dynamic which is almost CD like sound quality. Reception is 100% full signal strength with virtually no drop out using an outdoor antenna. There are total 15 stations available, some stations like J-Pop, Jazz to mention a few are only available in DAB channel. Last but not least, I like the display: it shows the name of the song, the singer and some News updates...
my favorite Cruise channel playing Jazz music...
Please visit Cambridge Audio
Sony PCM-R500 Professional Digital Recorder
Ever since my younger days I love to make recording onto a cassette tapes; complied all your favorite songs! This digital recorder allowed me to record up to 3hrs of music using readily available DDS-1 tape. Recording is done via the analog inputs with SBM (Super Bit Mapping) on, it sounded like a high quality reel to reel analog master tape. Hearing is believing! I have over 100 tapes that I recorded over the years with this baby! It records linear PCM with a higher bit rate of 2.82Mbps sample at 48KHz, which technically more superior than CD at 1.41Mbps sampled at 44.1kHz. Sony PCM-R500 Pro recorder is used in many studios for post CD production.
Showing Sony PCM-R500 during recording session. It features 4 direct drive motors and independent input level control.
Dynaudio Contour 1.8MK2 Floor standing speakers
They are quite compact but sturdy in construction. Each weighed about 18.5kg, this twin drivers and a soft dome tweeter deliver a big soundstage coupled with very good low frequency bass. The highs are sweet and simply sounds musical! Tweaked: The internal wiring of the speakers have been upgraded to Taralab RSC Reference Generation II and soldered with Wonder Solder - The mid is more lush, the high is sweeter while bass is tighter, overall improvement is good!
Dynaudio Contour 1.8MKII, with two 6inch woofer and a soft dome tweeter
Cables:
Speaker cable: Goertz by Alpha-Core, MI-3
Interconnectors: Taralabs RSC Reference Generation 2 (For preamp to power and SACD player to preamp) while others used Taralab RSC Prime.
Power Cables: SACD player, Wattage 350i Gold/320i for the rest, all terminated with American Hospital Hubbell Plugs and power cord, Belden CDT
1997 Copyright Guy MR
Email: guymrob@yahoo.com.sg